GoFundMe drive for detained Canuck shut down

OTTAWA — A friend of Michael Spavor says he is worried about the detained Canadian’s well-being and financial future now that an online fundraising effort in his name has been derailed.

Andray Abrahamian, a lecturer at Stanford University in California, was among the organizers of a GoFundMe campaign for Spavor, arrested last month in China for allegedly endangering Chinese national security.

“I worry about many things, starting with his health and emotional well-being,” Abrahamian said Monday.

GoFundMe said the campaign in Spavor’s name was shut down because its third-party payment processor, which made the decision, was unable to handle the donations.

GoFundMe spokeswoman Rachel Hollis would not elaborate on the reason, but said the fundraising portal relies on such processors to make sure money transfers made online “are securely processed and verified, helping us to keep GoFundMe the safest place to donate online.”

The backers were told

“it was for a ‘terms and conditions’ violation, but nothing more specific than that,” Abrahamian said. “Basically, nearly everybody’s money was refunded Friday without notice, then the next day the page was shut down.”

Spavor is director of the Paektu Cultural Exchange, an organization that facilitates sporting, cultural, tourism and business exchanges with North Korea.

He and fellow Canadian Michael Kovrig, a diplomat on leave from Global Affairs Canada, were taken into Chinese custody in December, just days after Canadian authorities in Vancouver arrested Meng Wanzhou, a senior executive with Chinese firm Huawei Technologies, who is wanted by the U.S. on fraud charges.